Brother! This is the adoption certificate. I don't want your sister-in-law!

The next morning, Su Xiao was woken up by a message notification on her QQ phone.

He groggily pulled his phone out from under his pillow, the screen's light making him squint.

He thought it was a harassing message from Wu Mengmeng.

Ever since that girl joined the company, she would use work as an excuse to flirt with the boss every morning, sending Su Xiao a bunch of random emojis.

When Su Xiao clicked on it, she found it was Su Wan Ning.

"Sour Little Lemon: I can't get up this morning, so make yourself breakfast. Eat breakfast before you go back to work."

Su Xiao became more awake, sat up in bed, and scratched her hair.

Su Wanning never has trouble getting up.

She knocks on the door at six o'clock every morning without fail, rain or shine, more like an alarm clock than he, her brother.

He put on his slippers and walked to Su Wan Ning's room. It was quiet inside.

Without thinking much, he went to wash up first, then went to the kitchen to cook two bowls of egg noodles, placed the soft-boiled eggs on top, sprinkled some chopped green onions, and put them on the dining table.

"Wan Ning, come out for dinner." He knocked on the door twice.

A muffled reply came from inside, saying, "I'm not eating anymore."

The voice sounded like it was being squeezed out from under the covers, muffled and flat, with a hoarseness that Su Xiao had never heard before.

He paused, his hand hovering in mid-air, and asked, "Why is your voice so hoarse?"

He immediately cleared his throat and said, "It's nothing."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a loud, uncontrollable cough broke out, a cough that was both muffled and deep.

Without saying a word, Su Xiao pushed the door open.

Su Wan Ning lay on the bed, the blanket pulled up to her chin, curled up into a ball, her face flushed, her lips dry, and her bangs stuck to her forehead with sweat.

"What's wrong?"

He walked to the bedside in a few steps and reached out to touch her forehead.

"Still hiding!"

Su Wan Ning subconsciously tried to shrink back into the blanket, like a little turtle sensing danger, but Su Xiao pressed one hand on her shoulder and the other firmly against her forehead.

The heat from his palm made him furrow his brow immediately.

I have a fever, and it's quite high.

"Do you even know you have a fever?!"

His voice was filled with barely suppressed anger.

"You're sick but you don't tell me."

He withdrew his hand, stood up, and spoke with a tone full of resentment.

Su Wan Ning quickly pulled the blanket over her head, curling herself into a ball, her voice muffled coming from under the blanket.

"No……"

They dare not face the facts.

Su Xiao stood by the bed, looking at the slightly trembling blanket, and ordered, "Pack yourself up and come to the hospital with me right away."

The voice coming from under the blanket was hoarse but resolute.

"No need to go to the hospital, just take a fever reducer."

"Stop fooling around, get up."

Su Xiao stood by the bed and said it several times, but the person under the covers didn't move.

He rubbed his temples one last time, took a step back, and said he would try taking fever-reducing medicine first and see how it went. If that didn't work, he would have to go to the hospital.

There was no answer from under the covers.

Without waiting for a reply, he turned around and went out to prepare her medicine.

A little while later he came in carrying the medicine.

Su Wanning crawled out from under the covers, took the medicine bowl, and leaned against the headboard.

Su Xiao sat down next to her, still muttering, "Knowing it's cold, she didn't put on more clothes and was still wandering around the house in a little skirt. Now look what's happened."

Su Wan Ning looked down at the dark brown medicine in the bowl. The steam rose onto her face, and her eyes slowly reddened, her eyelashes glistening with tears.

She spoke softly and pitifully, "Brother, please don't say anything more."

"You'll never learn if I don't tell you."

Su Xiao was still scolding her on her fingers when she heard this and saw her red eyes. The words she was about to say caught in her throat and she swallowed them back.

Su Wan Ning bit her lip, put the bowl on the bedside table, and said, "Then I won't drink it."

Su Xiao glanced at her, her voice suddenly turning cold.

"Try not drinking one, you won't go to the hospital or take any medicine, are you trying to cause trouble?"

Seeing that Su Xiaozhen was angry, Su Wanning immediately picked up the bowl and drank it all in one gulp.

She handed the empty bowl back to her, and Su Xiao took it and put it aside. She then helped Su Xiao lie down, pulled up the blanket, and carefully tucked her in.

"See if the fever can be brought down; if not, we still need to go to the hospital."

Su Wan Ning lay in bed and mumbled an "oh" in a low voice.

Su Xiao looked into her eyes and said, "Still not convinced?"

After saying that, he reached out and gently pinched her cheek.

Su Wan Ning froze instantly, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape. Before she could react, Su Xiao had already turned and walked out.

She lay in bed, her fingers gently touching the spot where he had pinched her earlier.

The warmth of his fingertips still lingered on my cheek; it was a little cool, but very comforting.

She was lost in thought when Su Xiao walked in again, carrying a thin blanket in her arms, and covered her with another one without saying a word.

"Keep it covered for now, and let me know when it gets hot."

Su Wan Ning blinked blankly. Seeing that she was lost in thought, Su Xiao waved her hand in front of her.

Su Wanning finally came to her senses and nodded.

Su Xiao turned around and then remembered something. She lifted a corner of the blanket and reached in to touch her foot.

It's ice cold.

Su Wan Ning was so frightened that she quickly pulled her foot back, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

Su Xiao took off the thin jacket she was wearing, bent down, and wrapped her feet.

His two icy feet were wrapped tightly in his warm coat.

He straightened up, his tone a mix of complaint and helplessness: "Why have your feet always been so cold, since you were little?"

He covered her with the blanket again, making sure there were no drafts, before stepping back.

"have a good rest."

He turned to leave when Su Wan Ning suddenly spoke.

The voice was still hoarse, but there was something different about it than before.

"I'm...I'm sorry. I've taken up your time today."

Su Xiao stood at the door without turning around.

There was silence for a moment.

Then he said in a very soft and steady voice, "Wan Ning, remember this. Nothing in this world is more important than you."

The door closed gently.

Su Wan Ning lay on the bed, looking at the closed door, feeling a warm feeling in her heart.

As the medication slowly took effect, her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and she drowsily closed her eyes.

……

In her dream, she returned to when she was very, very young.

During holidays and festivals, relatives would come to visit, carrying gift boxes and cracking melon seeds. They would smile when they saw her and say to her parents, "This little girl is getting prettier and prettier. She'll definitely marry into a rich family in the future. You had great taste back then."

At times like these, Mom and Dad can only awkwardly agree with a few words.

Little Su Wan Ning couldn't understand what those words meant, nor did she understand why the smiles on her relatives' faces were different from the smiles on her parents' faces.

She only knows one thing.

When I grow up, I will go to someone else's house, leave my parents, and leave my brother.

Thinking of this, she locked herself in her room, lay on the bed, buried her face in the pillow and cried, large tears streaming down her face.

The door was pushed open.

Su Xiao walked in, squatted down by the bed, tilted his head to look at her, and asked, "Why are you crying? Stop crying, tell your brother."

She threw herself into his arms and cried even louder, saying intermittently, "Brother, when I grow up, I don't want to marry anyone else, and I don't want to leave home."

Su Xiao hugged her and patted her back repeatedly. Seeing her crying so sadly, he became a little anxious, scratched his head, and suddenly blurted out: "Then you won't get married in the future, and I'll take care of you for the rest of your life."

Su Wan Ning lifted her head from his embrace, her red eyes wide open, tears still clinging to her eyelashes.

"Is...is that okay?"

Su Xiao nodded vigorously, grinned, and said in a loud and firm voice, "Sure, we'll always be family and never be separated."

Su Wan Ning stared blankly at him, tears streaming down her face again, but this time they weren't tears of sadness.

She nodded vigorously, buried her face in his chest again, her voice muffled by his clothes, yet more earnest than any innocent child's words.

"Okay, I don't want to get married. I want to stay with my brother forever."